Sunday, July 19, 2015

The Race Marked Out For Us

Saturday, July 18th

Bible Verse: "God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.We love because he first loved us.If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannotlove God whom he has not seen.And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother." Abby led the devotion today about God's love. We talked about how we can tell if God is in someone by how they love other people.

Katie showing how an origami fortune teller works.

The three musketeers.

Looking amazed at all the work that was done.

A girl with a pet bird.

Why is Gabby holding a chair?

Taping and scraping the T.V. room

"This is the color of love being spread to the shelter" - Miriam

Abby scrapping paint off of the floor - it's hard work!

Reach for the SKY.

Four people painting in one corner of the T.V. room. The bathrooms got really hot and stuffy!

Katie and Karla selfie.

Finished upstairs room!

Finished T.V. room!

Katie wrote "I love Jesus." Karla is writing "I love you."

A mural on one of the walls at the shelter. It translates "friends of Jesus."

Snacks we got on our way home! Plantation chips are the bomb.

All the girls doing ab workouts! Shout out to Coach Smith!

While we were at Copan the last couple of days, the volunteers from the local church kept working at the day shelter. They scraped and painted the outside hallway ceiling, a washing room, and the rest of the outside, including the front side of the day-shelter. When we arrived, we were amazed at their work, but we knew there was still a lot left undone. In the morning, we touched up the upstairs room and got ready to paint yet another room, which we referred to as “the T.V. room." However, we very quickly started facing problems. Dave scraped and painted the ceiling in the upstairs room, but it would not stop peeling. We used dark pink paint for the lower walls of the T.V. room, but we did not have enough light pink paint for the upper walls. On top of all that, everyone who was not feeling well Friday night, still were not well on Saturday. At lunch, we regrouped ourselves and made a plan. Miss Grachen would exchange an extra green paint bucket to a pink paint bucket at the hardware store. Since the T.V. room was a larger priority than the upstairs room, everyone would focus on getting the T.V. room done. We had three hours to do it, since Freddie needed to leave by five for his daughter’s fifteenth birthday party. Mrs. Klutenberg worked on the ceiling, Caroline did the bathroom, and everyone else worked on the lower and upper walls. Together, and with God’s power, we were able to finish the room by four, leaving enough time to clean up. Abby also scrapped paint off the tile floor, and Dave painted outside. The whole day felt like a race, but it was the race marked out for us, and God was running before us. We could not have crossed the finish line without him. The kids really appreciated everything that we were doing. Dave shared that Karla helped him paint the ceiling upstairs by shimmying up a pole and painting with one of her hands. He says he has so many pictures of her, because she loves to pose and has the cutest smile. The kids encouraged us by giving us cards throughout the day with pictures and words on it, saying “Thank you,” and “I love you.” When we were getting ready to leave, Karla got some chalk out. Katie wrote “I love Jesus” on the tile floor using pictures and some Spanish. Miriam asked Karla if she loved Jesus too, and Karla said yes. Then she wrote to Katie “Jo te ama,” which is “I love you." When we got back to the hotel, we decided to have some fun by doing some ab workouts and swimming in the pool in order to keep in shape for cross-country. After dinner, we hung out and practiced some songs in Spanish that we would be singing for the everyone at the day-shelter on Sunday. Thankfully, Miriam, Jenny, and Abby were feeling better, but Katie still wasn't. Please pray that she gets better! Overall, everyone was relieved to be done with painting. As Miss Grachen said, "You will never have to see a paintbrush or a roller for the rest of this trip!" Every day is a gift from God, and finishing the shelter was definitely a gift. Praise God!p.s. Caroline and I were slightly delayed when we posted this one because we didn't feel well, but now, on Monday morning, both of our stomach aches are gone! Yay!

3 comments:

Dear ones, It is so encouraging to see your love for one another and your love for the children and people of Honduras. Your work for their daily needs that are met in the shelter is inspiring. I praise God for this opportunity and for each of you. We are praying for the illness to leave, and especially for Katiie and Caroline, and for strength to finish the race and task He has sent you to do. Much love from Pittsburgh! Xxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooo

As this group packs up to travel home, I just got a text from Katie that she is finally feeling better. I am thankful that all team members are feeling better. Praise God that He has healed them for their long day of travel home. God is so good. Can't wait to see my girls and give them a big hug... So proud of all of you!